Tim Young is the Assistant Vice President Marketing Director for Brown-Forman Global Travel Retail/India, Middle East and Africa.
He began his career at Seagram in the UK, where he held various sales and trade marketing roles. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the wines and spirits industry and has been involved in the global travel retail sector for 13 years.
After joining Brown-Forman in 2002 as Area Manager for Europe, Tim has held various marketing roles in the Global Travel Retail division. He resides near London with his wife and three sons.
Nisreen Shocair has been the President of Virgin Megastore for the Middle East since 2006. Virgin Megastore Middle East is a leading entertainment brand and retailer in the region, synonymous with youth, trends, entertainment and culture. Nisreen has been instrumental in building the Virgin brand across the region by incorporating local and international consumer trends into one shopping experience.
Before joining Virgin Megastore, Nisreen held positions at Sony Music, Bertelsmann AG and Hearst Entertainment. She has extensive experience within the music, publishing, licensing, digital and retail sectors.
Nisreen holds Masters degrees in Business Administration from both London Business School and Columbia University, and has a global perspective on business, having lived and worked in New York, London, the Middle East and Africa. She is on the advisory board of several digital and environmental start-ups.
Nisreen was awarded Female CEO of the Year by CEO Middle East in 2011 and Businesswoman of the Year by Women in Leadership in 2011. She was ranked 35th Most Powerful Arab Woman 2012 by CEO Middle East Magazine and the 104th World’s Most Influential Arab 2012 by Arabian Business Magazine.
John Reynolds is a business graduate from Dublin, Ireland. He began his retail operations career with Aer Rianta in Dublin before working with Aer Rianta International – Middle East from 1992 to 2002.
John has a solid track record in increasingly responsible roles in duty free operations, set ups, restructuring and development in various countries including Ireland, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
He served as General Manager of a joint venture between Al Musbah and World Duty Free Group to set up the first duty free operation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He also has downtown retail experience, having served for five years as CEO of a premier high street retail partnership in Dublin.
He was seconded to Habchi & Chalhoub, Kuwait Duty Free as Operations Manager from 1994 to 1999 and recently rejoined the Chalhoub Group to oversee the development of its travel retail business, including airline and airport concessions.
John is married to Donna with two daughters.
Grant Hatch is an experienced strategy consultant, business leader and entrepreneur with highly developed analytical, programme management and team leadership skills. He has extensive experience in Africa leading market and sector research, market entry, acquisition due diligence and business structuring assignments across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. His research focus has been on understanding consumer growth and segmentation in Africa. He has worked extensively along the agri production and processing, consumer goods and retail value chain in Africa.
In the past, Grant led JP Morgan-Cazenove’s European Technology Research team in London and was a Vice-President and Head of Strategy for Capgemini South Africa before he led Accenture’s Strategy and Sustainability practices across all industries for three years as a member of the Europe, Africa and Latin America (EALA) Leadership team and was Global Lead for Africa Expansion. His strategy focus is on providing industry-relevant corporate and business unit strategy development and implementation including business and operating model transformation, financial and macro-economic modelling and growth strategy including M&A. Grant is currently a Partner with Griffin Advisors providing research, corporate strategy and private equity advisory to clients in Africa.
Grant holds an PhD in agriculture from the University of Natal and an MBA from the University of Cape Town. In his spare time, he runs ultra-marathons and farms and makes award winning wine under the Star Hill label.
Philip Eckles is the CEO of Aer Rianta International – Middle East WLL (ARIME), a subsidiary of Aer Rianta International cpt and of DAA in Ireland. ARIME is headquartered in Bahrain, from where the company is involved in a number of duty free operations across the region including in Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Cyprus and India (Mumbai and Delhi).
Philip joined ARI in 1993 as Retail Manager at ARI’s duty free concession in Karachi, Pakistan and since then has held several senior management positions, including Operations Manager at Eurotunnel, UK and General Manager at Kievrianta in Ukraine. He has also held consultancy roles at Birmingham Airport in the UK and Sofia Airport in Bulgaria as well as other retail related projects from the company’s base in Ireland. Before moving to the Middle East Philip was ARI’s Regional Manager in North America, overseeing the group’s operations in Canada, the US and the Caribbean.
Prior to joining ARI Philip was employed by Allders International at their duty free operation in London Heathrow airport, before which he spent time on the UK high street in supermarket retailing.
Philip is currently serving as a Director on the Board of MEADFA. He is married to Sarah and has two children.
Andrew Day is Group CEO of Emirates Leisure Retail LLC and MMI LLC, with businesses spanning hospitality, food and beverages across the Gulf, Indian Ocean, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Andrew is a board director of MMI Holdings, Emirates Leisure Retail Holdings and was also appointed to the Board of Premier Inn Hotels LLC, plus a variety of subsidiary/joint venture boards including Sirocco, the regional distributor for Heineken and other premium global beverages. He is also chairman of Emirates Leisure Retail Australia.
Andrew joined the group in 2007 as CEO of MMI, based in Dubai. With operations across the UAE, Oman, South East Asia, Southern Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean, the business has continued to grow both its import/wholesale operations as well as expanding its retail business including Le Clos, the award-winning fine wine and luxury spirits boutique in Dubai International Airport.
Andrew assumed responsibility for Emirates Leisure Retail in 2010 and has been instrumental in its growth, including the expansion of Emirates Leisure Retail Australia plus new operations in Singapore and most recently New Zealand.
Prior to this appointment, Andrew held a number of senior positions during his 16 years with Anheuser-Busch (one of the United States Fortune 500 corporations). An officer of Anheuser-Busch International, as Vice President of International Operations he was responsible for the operations of the world’s largest brewer across Canada, Ireland, UK, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, covering own-company operations, license agreements and joint venture agreements. In his time at A-B, Andrew was a board director of both the European operations and Asia Pacific operations.
Nadia Rashad, Egyptian, born in Cairo, graduated from The Faculty of Arts after finishing her studies in St. Claire’s College.
In the early 70’s, she started collaboration with Mr & Mrs Michel Chalhoub, founders of the Chalhoub Group, at a brand representation level, dealing exclusively in Duty Free.
Following the evolution of the market, the activity diversified into the luxury distribution & retail business, leading Nadia to set up the Egyptian company MAC, with a clear direction to be the market leader in the local market.
Focused on details and perfection, she has always succeeded to reflect the group identity & philosophy as brand builders.
With her wealth of experience in Travel Retail Business, and her challenging spirit, Cairo Airport Duty Free was set up, which today successfully operates in Terminals 1 & 3 at Cairo International Airport.
The group has further developed its duty free activities, which have been extended to Al Alamein International Airport, on the north coast of Egypt.
Today Nadia Rashad is MAC Country Manager, managing both local and travel retail operations in Egypt. A team of more than 500 professional and efficient employees are working for the development of all activities of the business.
Soma is a managing director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in London and heads the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) team for the EMEA region. His team offers a broad range of investment solutions to meet the needs of private bank clients. Soma is also responsible for the FICC Investment Management platform in the private bank to deliver a full spectrum of managed investments using both internal and external investment managers.
Soma has broad investment advisory, sales and, trading management, and new business development experience. He joined J.P. Morgan in 2009. Before that, he was a Managing Director with Citigroup in New York and headed a multi asset structured products team and advised clients on portfolio strategies and risk management. Prior to joining Citigroup, Soma worked with HSBC (Republic Bank) in New York and Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in various trading positions in foreign exchange, taxable fixed income and derivatives.
Soma is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder and a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA). Soma holds a MBA degree from the Carnegie Mellon University and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Soma has been a guest speaker at various seminars organized by groups such as the Structured Products Association and SRP and has spoken on topics such as “Managing portfolio risk using structured investments,” and “International portfolio diversification.”
Kara Change Management specialises in bringing practical support to blue-chip organisations in Banking, FMCG, Motor, Retail, Telcos/IT, Travel and others. For the past 12 years, Kara has developed a track record of no-nonsense expertise in managing change – with objectivity, empathy and sensitivity to human issues. The work ranges from…
1. Auditing and Troubleshooting for problems and solutions
2. Practical Support in managing change
3. Training Programmes to develop skills
Kara’s founder and Managing Director Alan O’Neill mba gained his front line management experience initially in retail (as owner / manager). He currently holds directorships in distribution companies in the Homewares Industry and in the Hair and Beauty Industry.
Alan brings expertise, real empathy and objectivity to all projects. He has a reputation for being very practical and has a talent for balancing great commercial awareness with real concern for organisational and human challenges. Since 1991, he has been lead consultant for many large culture change projects in Ireland, UK, Germany and Middle East. His expertise ranges from supporting and challenging Exec Teams at board level to develop strategy – to facilitating teams to ensure smooth implementation. Using a mix of well tested business models and practical experience, he is skilful at steering a successful path through the inevitable obstacles and achieving measurable results.
When leading training programmes, Alan tailors content to match business needs. Workshops are highly interactive and care is taken to ensure that newly acquired skills are transferred to real life and daily behaviours. With his personable style, he relates equally well to board members as he does to the front line – ensuring individuals maximize their full potential to the benefit of the business.
